Combine any two regions: Alsace, Brittany, Northern or Southern Burgundy, Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes, Provence, the Loire Valley, Champagne.... You can create still other combinations with our two part-French trips: in the Basque Country, and in French-speaking Switzerland and the two French regions bordering (the Jura and the Savoie). On this page, you will find a complete list of all of our 2-week trips in France. The chart offers links to the detailed region-by-region routes that different departures follow, and lists prices and departure dates.

France is a special place, about which few are dispassionate. Her appeal is strongest amongst those who know her best. Some years ago, an “Economist” statistical analysis of “Best Places to Live” put her 11th. But when they simply polled their staff, she won hands down.

A strong native culture partly insulates her from Anglo-Saxon influence. This complicates our ability to understand her  when it doesn’t provoke blind rage. But her frequent rejection of our certainties has naught to do with us. Rather, it is symptomatic of the way in which she sees herself, and of the unique prism through which she views the world (philosophy is a required subject in French secondary schools). If the path frustrates some of us, we are no less drawn to the result.

Those who have travelled in rural France will need no encouragement to return, and newcomers will be delighted at what they find. The French countryside is terrifically rewarding. And very much alive, with an agricultural tissue that has disappeared in most properous nations. Exploration leads to the roots of a delightful lifestyle: those family farms are intimately linked to the Unesco inscription of “French Gastronomy” to its World Heritage list.

Indeed, one can’t talk about France without talking about the food. And the wine! The French table is a deity: the great social organizer, leisure activity, consumer of disposable income. If French gastronomy has such prestige, it is because the French spend their time on it. Inevitably, we shall, too. And then cycle through picture-book landscapes to work it off. Well, try to work it off.

It is no accident that Blue Marble’s base is in Paris. French culture fits ours in many respects (7 weeks’ paid vacation, for instance) and influences our style of travel even in other countries.

This is an à la carte selection of our French rides. Each departure of the trip includes two different routes.

2 Weeks in FranceSome of the most popular of these combo trips have their own pages, linked from the chart.For a trip combining France (Burgundy) and French Switzerland, try C’est Cheese.
To visit France (the Loire Valley) and the French / Spanish Basque Country, see Tapestries and Tapas.For details of the riding within each region, including ride difficulty, click on the name under “Region Visited”...
—

* Prices in $ and € do not include precisely the same things. Click here for details.
** At least 4 riders must subscribe to a given baggage service for it to operate. The services listed are those currently offered on the departure in question. Services which appear in bold already have at least 3 subscribers (so, one more would ensure their operation).

Prices of Optional Extras (links lead to explanations)Valid for all trips with trip codes beginning with Tx5.
“Optional Extra” prices for trips with titles (such as “Red Wine Roads”) are found on the pages describing those trips.

To see advice for reaching and leaving your trip, consult the pre-trip access page for your trip’s first region, and the post-trip access page for the second (you can see these start and end cities on the map at the top of the page).Example: for Tz1, Champagne plus Bordeaux & the Dordogne, you would consult the start city page for Champagne (Paris), and the end city for Bordeaux (Souillac).